Welcome to my garage sale

I held my first-ever garage sale this weekend. It was rather ironic, considering I have lived in homes with much larger garages, yet was able to cram four generations of household items, knick-knacks, clothes, toys and stuffed animals and furniture into a one-car space.

Despite living near a construction zone and in a secluded neighborhood, I still attracted a fairly steady stream of customers, especially after deciding to add “1/2 off” to my sale signs on the last day. This ploy pretty much eliminated people asking me to discount my merchandise, which I was already selling on the cheap.

Is it really that outlandish to sell cute children’s chairs, barely used and retailing for $40, for $10? They didn’t sell until they went down to $5. “Bargain” takes on a new meaning when it’s in a garage.

Among my most memorable visitors were:

- A very elderly man wearing a rope around his neck with an old 78 record attached. Maybe it was a reminder to look for a record player?
- A young man with platinum hair and glittery polished nails who bought serious books. He said he had more time to buy books than to read them.
- A man who told me that my house should be in Connecticut, followed by a woman who had actually moved from Connecticut.
- A Romanian native who had recently moved to the U.S. after living in France and China. She was trying to understand the use for some of my merchandise, including a dress and wig labeled “goose clothes.” That one was pretty much unexplainable.
- The little boy who assured me that he needed a hot pot to boil water. His mother wasn’t convinced.
- My toddler neighbor who was fascinated by a plastic car that she would climb into and happily sit in on my driveway. Her mother finally bought it for her after admitting that it was not exactly the kind of developmental toy they were looking for these days.
- A man who took all of my free cement block remnants and then asked for a free DVD to offset the heavy lifting. I gave him “Wedding Crashers” even though he said he and his wife found “Mad Men” was too risqué.
- A little boy who rammed into and broke my gazing ball, which wasn’t even for sale. My breakables inventory remained intact.
- The two children who pretty much unsized all the baby clothes I had neatly folded and sized in plastic totes. Aaugh, I didn’t want to speak to their mother about their behavior because she was buying some high-ticket goods.

Now it's time to reclaim the garage and get rid of the remaining inventory through donations to the library and Goodwill. Unfortunately my first Goodwill drop-off resulted in the purchase of some shoes, a sweater and a small set of Christmas dishes. Which means I may need to have another garage sale in the future.